It was done on the cross!

Hello everyone. We hope that this is a little bit better with no keeping you all waiting so long. Yesterday Jess and I had the chance to visit a village to be with a local pastor. He invited us to his house and gave us a papaya even though they had no other food. It was amazing and we had the opportunity to buy them food to last them a month. We actually got to be the hands of Jesus and provide for a family who has nothing. They were so blessed by this. We are both learning so much about loving people. Jesus is amazing. Jessica is growing so much. She is beginning to get visions and words and dreams. Jesus in her is exploding! It is so much fun to watch. We are growing deeper into the things of Christ and growing deeper together here. We truly are at home here as well as in Oregon. We can’t wait to see all of you. I, Josh, am also learning the language like a madman. I am holding full conversations with the locals and having no problem being by myself on the street. Jesus is so good. I want to share with all of you a little bit of what Jesus did this week in me. Jessica will share later with all of you.

A couple of days ago my house group did a presentation interpreting a parable from the underside. This means that we needed to see it through the eyes of someone on the margins of society. We had a very powerful presentation that I had the opportunity to write. I was then asked to write another longer presentation and narrate it as well. It was a true story from one of the guest speakers who has an amazing story to tell. This particular story was about a young 16 year old girl in India who, to make a long story, was raped by her husbands friends and then hung by her husband. The rope didn’t hold her and she came crashing down, hit her head and became insane. She was tortured many times and many times people in her own village tried to kill her. The speaker, Shampa Rice, ended up caring for her after they had poisoned her many times. No doctor thought she would make it because of the high level of arsenic in her system. All in all, she was healed of everything, including her mind being lost. After she got well she told Shampa that she wanted to go back to her village and be with her husband. In the process of her healing, she forgave her husband and the village and the village became radically saved because of what happened. I didn’t have much time to process this during the writing but Jesus allowed me to process this after we performed. I was broken and began sobbing right there in the tent with everyone around. I was asking Jesus, “How can I forgive those who hurt other people so badly?” Jesus then spoke very clearly to me, “You love me and I will teach you how to love them.” I then heard from Jesus again, “If you can love those who hurt you, you will be able to love those who hurt others. Look at the Cross.” This has begun a change in me like never before. The Cross is the key. Jesus was able to forgive those who hung him on the cross. All I have to do is see the cross; see the work done on the cross out of Love. The Cross has to be the model for loving others because it takes us face to face with what Jesus did and who he did it for and why he did it. We can’t hide behind our preferences; we can’t make the choice not to love because we are offended or have a grudge. We simply have to see the Cross. I believe this is the beginning of what God has in store for Jessica and I; to see people as Christ saw them on the Cross; worth dying for. It’s about seeing them not as a target but as people worth helping, touching, loving, without any expectation. Imagine what the church would look like if this was our focus; to love everyone without the expectation of them coming to Jesus; to still love and care for them if even on their death bed they don’t accept Jesus. If we can love even then, we will see so many people changed for the Gospel. Pray about this and I promise Jesus will meet you on either side of the spectrum (you may totally disagree, just seek Jesus). I love you all.